Currently many television (TV) programs provide services for accompanying sound. An accompanying sound for a TV program is a sound service provided in addition to a normal sound of the TV program. For example, for an analog TV program, the accompanying sound may include different sound settings, such as monophonic, stereo sound, and/or second audio program (SAP). SAP is an auxiliary audio channel for analog television that can be broadcast or transmitted both over-the-air and by cable television. SAP is often used to provide audio tracks in languages other than the native language included in the program. For a digital TV program, the accompanying sound may include multichannel television sound (MTS). MTS is a method of encoding three additional channels of audio into an NTSC-format audio carrier. The additional channels may carry different language from the default language of the TV program.
Sometimes accompanying sound services are provided in a TV program to provide language options to viewers speaking different languages than the default language of the TV programs, or to help visually handicapped people understand the TV programs. To facilitate choosing the right accompanying sound, some remote controllers include special keys with an identification mark thereon, such as “MTS/SAP” or “Audio.” A viewer may choose his/her desired accompanying sound (e.g., mono, stereo or SAP) or language (e.g., English or French etc.) by pressing these hot keys on a handheld remote controller. When the remote controller is a general remote controller, however, selecting the right accompanying sound is not as easy. Generally starting from a main menu of operation options, the user has to press keys on the controller to go through a few levels of menus or interfaces before reach the right menu for accompanying sound. The user then generally needs to press the “OK” key on the remote controller to confirm the change from the default sound to another accompanying sound. If the user does not correctly select the desired sound or wish to change to another accompanying sound, he/she will have to go through the selection procedure again. The above operations on general remote controllers are especially difficult for visually handicapped persons, who have hard time to read the menu options on the TV screen and correctly select several levels of the option menus down and reach the accompany sound option.